R.I.P. Martin H. Greenberg (1941-2011)

Torbjorn Pettersen — Sun, 26 Jun 2011 13:14:32 +0000

Several sources have now confirmed the death of one of the genres most loved persons, Marty has lost his battle with cancer. He will be dearly missed.

Martin Harry Greenberg (March 1, 1941-June 25, 2011) was an American speculative fiction anthologist and writer.

Greenberg took a doctorate in Political Science in 1969, and has taught at the University of Wisconsin – Green Bay since 1975. His first anthology was Political Science Fiction (1974, with Patricia Warrick), intended to be used as a teaching guide, then continuing with a sequence of educational anthology titles under the series name Through Science Fiction. In the late 70s Greenberg began partnering with Joseph D. Olander on more conventional SF anthologies. Early in his career, Greenberg was sometimes confused with Martin Greenberg the publisher of Gnome Press, but the anthologist has stated (at science fiction conventions, and in some of his anthologies) that they are no relation. Asimov suggested that he call himself “Martin H. Greenberg” or “Martin Harry Greenberg” to distinguish him from the other Martin Greenberg.

He shared the 2005 Prometheus Special Award with Mark Tier for the anthologies Give Me Liberty and Visions of Liberty.

Greenberg typically teamed up with another editor, splitting the duties of story selection, editing, copyright searches, and the handling of author royalties. Major partners include Isaac Asimov (127 anthologies), Charles G. Waugh, Jane Yolen, and Robert Silverberg.

In 2009, he was the recipient of one of the first three Solstice Awards presented by the SFWA in recognition of his contributions to the field of science fiction.

Bio source: Wikipedia

R.I.P. Joel Rosenberg 1954 – 2011

Torbjorn Pettersen — Sat, 04 Jun 2011 19:11:30 +0000

Joel Rosenberg died June 2nd, a day after he suffered a respiratory depression that caused a heart attack, anoxic brain damage and major organ failure.

His wife, Felicia G. Herman, posted on her blog “In accordance with his wishes, he shared the gift of life through organ and tissue donation. He is survived by his daughters, Judith Eleanor and Rachel Hannah, and his wife, Felicia Herman. Today [June 3rd] would have been his 32nd wedding anniversary.”

Joel Rosenberg (May 1, 1954 – June 2, 2011) was a Canadian American science fiction and fantasy author best known for his long-running “Guardians of the Flame” series.

Writing career
Rosenberg began publishing in 1978, with an op-ed piece in The New York Times favoring nuclear power.

Fantasy
His first published fiction, “Like the Gentle Rains”, appeared in Isaac Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine in 1982. The following year, he published his first novel, The Sleeping Dragon which was the first in his long-running Guardians of the Flame series. This series placed a collection of college students into a fantasy setting similar to a role-playing world. Throughout numerous books, Rosenberg has traced these characters, their descendants and the changes they have made to society. He has shown no compunction about killing off popular characters.

The “Keepers of the Hidden Ways” trilogy similarly places people from the real world into a fantasy setting, making heavy use of Norse mythology. A third fantasy series, consisting of the novels D’Shai (1991) and Hour of the Octopus (1994) (both lightly humorous mysteries) is set in an Asian-influenced fantasy world with very strict cultural standards and etiquette.

Paladins, the first in his “Mordred’s Heirs” series, was published by Baen Books in September 2004; the second, Knight Moves was published in November 2006. This series, an “alternate fantasy history”, takes place in a world where Mordred defeated King Arthur, establishing the Pendragon Dynasty.

Science fiction
In addition to fantasy, Rosenberg wrote a number of science fiction novels. Although dealing with different characters, Ties of Blood and Silver (1984) and Emile and the Dutchman (1986) are both set in the same setting. Two other books set in this setting, Not for Glory (1988) and Hero (1990), focus on family members of the Metzadan Mercenary Corps from the Jewish (and others) settled World of Metzada (Masada).

Mysteries
In recent years, Rosenberg turned his hand to mysteries, publishing Home Front, the first of his “Sparky Hemingway” mysteries in 2003; the second, Family Matters, was published in early 2004.

Themes and influences
Rosenberg’s novels frequently feature the theme of freedom (particularly in the Guardians of the Flame series, where the initial characters make it their life’s goal to abolish slavery in their new world) and the right to keep and bear arms. Other themes include protecting children at all costs, and the message that people can overcome hardships and abuse suffered as children.

His heroes also frequently find inspiration in the heroic figures of the Greek classics and of American folklore and history.

Biographical source: Wikipedia

Spokane makes bid for WorldCon 2015

Torbjorn Pettersen — Tue, 31 May 2011 17:05:38 +0000

The Seattle Westercon Organizing Committee has announced a bid to host the 2015 Worldcon in Spokane, Washington.

More information at http://spokanein2015.org

R.I.P. Terry Jeeves

Torbjorn Pettersen — Tue, 31 May 2011 16:49:14 +0000

File 770 reports that U.K. fan and fan-artist Terry Jeeves passed away May 30th.

A member of First Fandom and winner of its Hall of Fame Award in 2010, Terry was active as an artist, organizer, faned and fan writer.

See the report at File 770 for more details.

R.I.P. Mark Shepherd

Torbjorn Pettersen — Tue, 31 May 2011 16:45:02 +0000

American fantasy novelist and musician Mark Shepherd took his own life on May 24th following clinical depression.

A native of Tampa, Florida, during the 1990s Shepherd was a writing protégé and live-in personal secretary of author Mercedes Lackey and artist Larry Dixon at High Flight, their Tulsa home.

He co-authored three novels with Lackey (one of them also had Holly Lisle as a co-author), and composed music to accompany his later books. He has also written several short stories.

The 2011 Comton Crook Award won by James Knapp

Torbjorn Pettersen — Mon, 30 May 2011 22:57:36 +0000

The Baltimore Science Fiction Society announced the Compton Crook Award for 2011 was won by James Knapp for his novel “State of Decay”. This novel, #1 in the Revisors series, was also nominated for the Philip K. Dick Award. The Award was presented to Knapp at Balticon 45 May 27th.

The Compton Award if for best first SF/F/H novel of the year.

2011 Writers/Illustrators of the Future Awards

Torbjorn Pettersen — Mon, 30 May 2011 22:45:59 +0000

R.P.L. Johnsen received the Writers of the Gold Award for his story “In Apprehension, How Like a God”.

Irvin Rodriguez received the Illustrators of the Future Award.

The winners were celebrated, and recived their Lucite trophies and a $5000 check each, at a ceremony in Hollywood May 15th.
Both the award winning story and artwork appears in Writers of the Future Volume 27 edited by K.D. Wentworth.

2011 Analab and Asimov’s Readers’ Awards announced

Torbjorn Pettersen — Mon, 30 May 2011 22:36:15 +0000

As announced by Analog Science Fiction and Fact and Asimov’s Science Fiction during the Nebula Awards weekend May 21st:

Here are the winners of Analog‘s Analytical Laboratory (AnLab) Awards are:

Best Novella
“Phantom Sense” by Richard A. Lovett & Mark Niemann-Ross (11/10)

Best Novelette
“Outbound” by Brad R. Torgersen (11/10)

Best Short Story
“Red Letter Day” by Kristine Kathryn Rusch (9/10)

Best Fact
“Tips for the Budget Time-Traveler” by Shane Tourtellotte (12/10)

Best Cover
December 2010 by Bob Eggleton

The winners of Asimov’s Readers’ Awards are:

Best Novella
“Becoming One With the Ghosts” by Kristine Kathryn Rusch (10-11/10)

Best Novelette
“The Emperor of Mars” by Allen M. Steele (6/10)

Best Short Story (tie)
“The Lovely Ugly” by Carol Emshwiller (8/10)
“Libertarian Russia” by Michael Swanwick (12/10)

Best Poem
“Welcome Home” by Janis Ian (10-11/10)

Best Cover Artist (tie)
Tomislav Tikulin (7/10)
Michael Whelan (8/10)

And here are the 2011 Aurora Boréal winners

Torbjorn Pettersen — Thu, 26 May 2011 20:12:34 +0000

Aurora / Boréal – Best Novel
Côté, Héloïse: La tueuse de dragons (Alire)
Chen, Ying: Espèces (Boréal)
Fortin, Mathieu: Le serrurier (Coups de tête)

Aurora / Boréal – Best Short Fiction
Côté, Philippe-Aubert: « Pour l’honneur d’un Nohaum » (Solaris 176)
Bellavance, Dominic: Sintara et le scarabée de Mechæom (Les Six Brumes)
Bolduc, Claude: « Entre les bras des amants réunis (révision) » (Entre les bras des amants réunis, Vents d’Ouest)
Fournier-Goulet, Geneviève : « Les pantoufles de Louis XVI » (Solaris 175)
Rocheleau, Carl: L’Aquilon (Les Six Brumes)

Aurora / Boréal – Best Graphic Novel
[Ineligible – not enough nominations]

Aurora / Boréal – Best Poetry/Song
[Ineligible – not enough nominations]

Aurora / Boréal – Best Related Work
Solaris (Revue. rédacteur en chef: Joël Champetier)
Bolduc, Claude (Entre les bras des amants réunis : Recueil, Vents d’Ouest)
Fortin, Mathieu (Morphoses : Recueil, Les Six Brumes; critiques, Brins d’éternité 27; critiques, Solaris 173 et 176)
Gaudreault, Marc Ross («Amazing Stories et l’émergence de la science-fiction», Solaris 176)
Voisine, Guillaume (Crtitiques, Brins d’éternité 26-27)

Big “Thank you” to Clint Budd for the information

2011 Prix Aurora/Boréal Award finialists announced

Torbjorn Pettersen — Wed, 25 May 2011 14:21:30 +0000

CSFFA (Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Association) has announced the finalists for the Prix Aurora awards for 2011.

Voting will begin in early June through the newly streamlined on-line forms or by mail-in ballot. All ballots must be received by October 15, 2011, Midnight PST.

The Prix Aurora/Boréal Awards ceremony is slated for Sunday, May 15, at the Hôtel Espresso (1005 rue Guy, Montréal), between 16:00 and 17:00. The master of ceremonies will be Alain Ducharme. Jean-Louis Trudel will present the Prix Aurora Boréal for Best Novel (in French) (as a CSFFA Director) and also the $500 cheque for Best Novel on behalf of SF Canada (of whose executive he is a member-at-large).

NOTE: By the agreement between CSFFA and SFSF Boréal the “French Auroras” are combined with the Prix Boréal (in the Professional categories only) to make the Prix Aurora Boréal and their administration is handled by SFSF Boréal. Not all of the items in the agreement can be observed in this, the first year of the agreement, so, for instance, voting will be done on-site at the Boréal convention only instead of on-line in following years.

PROFESSIONAL AWARDS

Best English Novel
Black Bottle Man by Craig Russell, Great Plains Publications
Destiny’s Blood by Marie Bilodeau, Dragon Moon Press
Stealing Home by Hayden Trenholm, Bundoran Press
Under Heaven by Guy Gavriel Kay, Viking Canada
Watch, by Robert J. Sawyer, Penguin Canada

Best English Short Story
The Burden of Fire by Hayden Trenholm, Neo-Opsis #19
Destiny Lives in the Tattoo’s Needle by Suzanne Church, Tesseracts Fourteen, EDGE
The Envoy by Al Onia, Warrior Wisewoman 3, Norilana Books
Touch the Sky, They Say by Matt Moore, AE: The Canadian Science Fiction Review, November
Your Beating Heart by M. G. Gillett, Rigor Amortis, Absolute Xpress

Best English Poem / Song
The ABCs of the End of the World by Carolyn Clink, A Verdant Green, The Battered Silicon Dispatch Box
Let the Night In by Sandra Kasturi, Evolve: Vampire Stories of the New Undead, EDGE
Of the Corn: Kore’s Innocence by Colleen Anderson, Witches & Pagans #21
The Transformed Man by Robert J. Sawyer, Tesseracts Fourteen, EDGE
Waiting for the Harrowing by Helen Marshall, ChiZine 45

Best English Graphic Novel
Goblins, Tarol Hunt, goblinscomic.com
Looking For Group, Vol. 3 by Ryan Sohmer and Lar DeSouza
Stargazer, Volume 1 by Von Allan, Von Allan Studio
Tomboy Tara, Emily Ragozzino, tomboytara.com

Best English Related Work
Chimerascope, Douglas Smith (collection), ChiZine Publications
The Dragon and the Stars, edited by Derwin Mak and Eric Choi, DAW
Evolve: Vampire Stories of the New Undead, edited by Nancy Kilpatrick, EDGE
On Spec, edited by Diane Walton, Copper Pig Writers Society
Tesseracts Fourteen, edited by John Robert Colombo and Brett Alexander Savory, EDGE

Best Artist (Professional and Amateur)
(An example of each artist’s work is listed below but they are to be judged on the body of work they have produced in the award year)
Lynne Taylor Fahnestalk, Brekky cover art, On Spec Fall
Erik Mohr, cover art for ChiZine Publications
Christina Molendyk, Girls of Geekdom Calendar for Argent Dawn Photography
Dan O’Driscoll, cover art for Stealing Home
Aaron Paquette, A New Season cover art, On Spec Spring

FAN/AMATEUR AWARDS

Best Fan Publications
No award will be given out. We received insufficient nominations for this category to be eligible.

Best Fan Filk
Dave Clement and Tom Jeffers of Dandelion Wine for “Face on Mars” CD
Karen Linsley; concert as SFContario Guest of Honour
Phil Mills, for “Time Traveller” (song writing)

Best Fan Organizational
Andrew Gurudata, organizing the Constellation Awards
Brent M. Jans, chair of Pure Speculation (Edmonton)
Liana Kerzner, chair of Futurecon (Toronto)
Helen Marshall and Sandra Kasturi, chairs of Toronto SpecFic Colloquium (Toronto)
Alex Von Thorn, chair of SFContario (Toronto)

Best Fan Other
Tom Jeffers, Fundraising, FilKONtario
John and Linda Ross Mansfield, Conception of the Aurora Nominee pins
Lloyd Penney, Articles, columns and letters of comment – fanzines

PRIX BORÉAL

Aurora/Boréal – Best Novel
Chen, Ying: Espèces (Boréal)
Côté, Héloïse: La tueuse de dragons (Alire)
Fortin, Mathieu: Le serrurier (Coups de tête)

Aurora/Boréal – Best Short Fiction
Bellavance, Dominic: Sintara et le scarabée de Mechæom (Les Six Brumes)
Bolduc, Claude: « Entre les bras des amants réunis (révision) » (Entre les bras des amants réunis, Vents d’Ouest)
Côté, Philippe-Aubert: « Pour l’honneur d’un Nohaum » (Solaris 176)
Fournier-Goulet, Geneviève : « Les pantoufles de Louis XVI » (Solaris 175)
Rocheleau, Carl: L’Aquilon (Les Six Brumes)

Aurora/Boréal – Best Graphic Novel
[Ineligible – not enough nominations]

Aurora/Boréal – Best Poetry/Song
[Ineligible – not enough nominations]

Aurora/Boréal – Best Related Work
Bolduc, Claude (Entre les bras des amants réunis : Recueil, Vents d’Ouest)
Fortin, Mathieu (Morphoses : Recueil, Les Six Brumes; critiques, Brins d’éternité 27; critiques, Solaris 173 et 176)
Gaudreault, Marc Ross («Amazing Stories et l’émergence de la science-fiction», Solaris 176)
Solaris (Revue. rédacteur en chef: Joël Champetier)
Voisine, Guillaume (Crtitiques, Brins d’éternité 26-27)

By the agreement between CSFFA and SFSF Boréal , SFSF Boréal will also present their own awards – as follows:

Prix Boréal – Audiovisual Art Award
Cartoonists, illustrators, painters, sculptors, film directors, animation directors, and musicians whose work is wholly or partly of science fiction or fantasy are eligible. This category aims to reward the visual and audiovisual production that is not honored by the previous categories.

Carpentier, Olivier (Illustrations : Entités 2: Trahisons)
Charlebois, Karine (Illustrations : Solaris 176)
Fromenteau, Grégory (Couvertures : Solaris 174, Solaris 176 et La Tueuse de dragons)
Leblanc, Gabrielle (Couvertures : Morphoses et Sintara et le scarabée de Mechæom; illustrations : Clair/Obscur #7)
Pageau, Marc (Couvertures : Brins d’éternité 27 et Nexuz3 5)
Sybiline (Lajoie, Chantal) (Couvertures : Solaris 173, Solaris 175 et Brins d’éternité 26)

Prix Boréal – Fan Publications

This award serves to highlight non-professional contributions in the form of fanzines, webzines and blogs.
Ariane Gélinas [blogue] – http://herelys.blogspot.com/
Asile [fanzine] – http://a-s-i-l-e.blogspot.com/
Brins d’éternité [fanzine] – http://www.revue-brinsdeternite.com/
Jonathan Reynolds [blogue] – http://aveugle.wordpress.com/
Richard Tremblay [blogue] – http://lermitederigaud.blogspot.com/

————–

SF CANADA TO PRESENT $500 AWARDS TO WINNERS OF THE AURORA FOR BEST NOVEL (English) and THE AURORA-BOREAL FOR BEST NOVEL (French)

For 30 years, Canadian fans of speculative fiction have been voting on the Aurora and (for the first time, this year) the Aurora-Boréal awards, to acknowledge the best of Canadian professional and fan activity in both of Canada’s official languages. SF Canada will fund prizes of $500.00 each for future winners of the Best Novel category in both languages. The first such prize will be awarded to the winner of the Aurora-Boreal Award, for best Fantasy and/or Science Fiction novel published first in French in 2010 by a Canadian author, at 28e Congrès Boréal, Montréal, May-13-2011.

SF Canada was founded in 1989 as Canada’s National Association for Speculative Fiction Professionals, and was founded to serve the needs of those writers, specifically, to address the following tasks between and among those writers: To foster a sense of community among them, to improve communication between them, to foster the growth of quality writing, to lobby on their behalf, and to encourage the translation of their work. SF Canada supports positive social action.

——————–

For more information see the Prix Aurora Awards official site.